CDC NHSN LTCF COVID-19/Respiratory Pathogens Vaccination Module Page UPDATED

Long-term care facilities can track weekly vaccination data for residents and healthcare personnel (HCP) through NHSN. January 2024 Updates Training Updates to Weekly COVID-19 Vaccination Data Reporting: Long-term Care Facilities – January 2024 Slideset [PDF – 1,015 KB] Data Collection Forms and Instructions COVID-19 Vaccination Data Collections Forms Note: All data …

CMS QSO Memo: Updates to Nursing Home Care Compare Staffing and Quality Measures

Memo # QSO-23-21-NH Posting Date 2023-09-20 Fiscal Year 2023 Title Memorandum Summary • Adjustment to Staffing and Quality Measures: CMS will update the staffing level case-mix adjustment methodology and replace some of the Quality Measures (QMs) used on Nursing Home Care Compare, in order to accommodate changes to the Minimum …

NACs Like a Reasonable Challenge: 2023 AAPACN NAC Work Study and Salary Report

Over the last few years, nurse assessment coordinators (NACs) are being hired with less long-term care experience, being paid more, and facing a multitude of challenges including stress and burnout, staffing shortages, and increased workloads. The 2023 AAPACN NAC Work Study and Salary Report received responses from 632 NACs. The …

2022 Nursing Home Staffing Study Final Report

In February 2022, the Biden-Harris Administration announced a comprehensive set of reforms aimed at improving quality and safety for residents in nursing homes. One aspect of this initiative was conducting a new Nursing Home Staffing Study to help inform CMS’s approach to developing minimum staffing standards. The 2022 study final …

Q&A: What can a facility implement to aid with staffing challenges?

Question: What can a facility implement to aid with staffing challenges? Answer from Alexis Roam MSN, RN-BC, CPHQ, DNS-MT, QCP-MT: A few things that might help address risk of noncompliance and also attract and retain talent are as follows: 1. Contact your state board of nursing and ask if you …

What the DNS Should Know to Hire an Infection Preventionist: From Regulatory Requirements to Onboarding Best Practices

The Infection Preventionist (IP) has become an integral part of the nurse leadership team in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). Therefore, turnover in this important position brings many ramifications. When the IP position is vacant, it can cause quality-of-care issues, increase the workload for the director of nursing services (DNS), and …

Infection Preventionist Job Description

The infection preventionist (IP), under the direction of the director of nursing services (DNS), is responsible for the development, implementation, direction, and operation of the facility’s infection prevention and control program (IPCP). The IP’s responsibilities also include ensuring compliance with infection-related regulations from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services …

President Biden Executive Order and Fact Sheet on Increasing Access to High-Quality Care and Supporting Caregivers

Executive Order (in particular, section 2 is worth reading for nursing home-specific information): By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:       Section 1.  Policy.  High-quality early care and education and long-term …

Turnover Solutions Series – Part 2: Understanding Why Employees Leave and Strategies to Reduce Turnover

The staffing crisis is an ongoing dilemma for long-term care. To combat the effects of this crisis, directors of nursing services (DNS) may be tasked with finding creative solutions. Often, DNSs focus on the lack of potential candidates and difficulties related to hiring. However, staff turnover is a large part …

Turnover Solutions Series – Part 1: Interpreting the Staff Turnover Rate

During a QAA/QAPI meeting, the director of human resources announces the monthly staff turnover rate and shares information about a job fair she will attend. After this report, another department director takes a turn sharing data, and the meeting carries on in this manner until all departments have spoken. There …